


all of your love is sunlight

by orphan_account



Series: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter Fics [32]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Fake AH Crew, M/M, Sirens, i mean i think it's graphic?? i don't write violence very much so y'know, lindsay and fiona are only Sort of there i'm so sorry girls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 21:16:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21259781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Jeremy finds himself attached to a strange human. Something feels familiar about the human, but he can't remember why...





	all of your love is sunlight

**Author's Note:**

> secret skeleton fic gift in the rt writers community!

Jeremy could feel the rumbling of a boat nearby in the water. While it was a common experience, he didn’t expect it so late at night. He poked his head out of the water, his gills closing up and his lungs activating as he started breathing in air.

The boat was closer than he’d been to one in a while, and his first instinct was to recoil. Still, something about the boat pulled him towards it, and he swam closer.

There were five figures on the boat, although Jeremy could only see four faces among them. One figure, however, had some sort of mask on. It was hard to see against the dark sky, but it looked like a human skull.

As much as he wanted to come closer, to properly investigate, he couldn’t help but dive down when one of the figures looked down at the water. The instinct to remain unseen was still strong in his blood.

Jeremy didn’t have the heart to lure them into crashing the ship. Maybe he was tired, or maybe there was some other reason, but either way, he didn’t feel like it. So he turned away and swam back to the cove.

“Hey, you’re back!” Even in the dark water, Lindsay’s tail still burned bright as she swam over to him. “What took you so long?”

Jeremy shrugged. “I found a boat, but...something about it just didn’t make me wanna crash it.”

“Shame. Hey, wanna see what Fiona got me while she was out?” When he nodded, Lindsay pulled out a pendant on a short chain. Parts of it glowed in the dark, making it look like a small bunch of twinkling stars. “Pretty, isn’t it?”

“Ooh, yeah,” he replied, putting a couple fingers behind the pendant to inspect it closer. “What’s it even for?”

“Dunno. Probably some decoration thing.” Lindsay put it back in her bag as the two of them swam further into the cove. “How’re your potions going?”

“Uh...I think I can make enough to properly trade tomorrow. I’m sure we’ll be fine either way.”

Lindsay immediately swam over to Fiona once she saw her, squishing her cheeks in delight. Jeremy smiled at the scene before swimming up to his workspace, sitting down in the small pool in the center of various counters, stacked with glass bottles and various ingredients strewn about. As he started working on a batch to take for trading, though, he realized he couldn’t get that boat he saw out of his head--especially the figure with the skull mask. He couldn’t put a finger on why, but he felt an indescribable pull towards them. _It’s the other way around, isn’t it?_

He’d never heard of a siren being lured in by a human, but he guessed there was a first time for everything. As he filled the bottles with the seawater outside his workspace and infused them with the necessary ingredients, Jeremy couldn’t help but let his mind wander, wondering what the human looked like, or if they’d be scared of Jeremy.

He sighed. He couldn’t worry about that. He, Lindsay, and Fiona had to provide for each other first, that was their priority.

Now finished with his work, Jeremy set the potions on the counter and swam out, already tired from staying out late. A part of him still hoped that he could see that human again, however.

———

Jeremy considered himself lucky: not only was he able to trade plenty of food to last the three of them well into the next trading period, but he’d been able to snag some needed ingredients instead of having to venture out and find them himself. Despite the change in mood, he still couldn’t get the human out of his head. Once the three of them were back, he tossed the fish he’d gotten into their small food cave and his ingredients in his workspace before swimming off.

Even if it wasn’t the right time of day—the sun was just beginning to set instead of late at night—he still hoped to find some, any evidence of the same boat. He was disappointed, however, to find that the boat was docked on the pier, and no sign of humans on it.

Before he could swim home dejected, though, he saw a figure standing on the furthest edge of the pier. Jeremy dove underwater, trying to get close enough while not startling the human. As he got closer, his eyes widened: this was the human in the skull mask he saw! He couldn’t really understand why the human wanted to wear this odd mask so much, but he already knew that humans were strange. 

When the human looked in his direction, though, Jeremy turned and swam away. As much as he wanted to approach the human, he was still oddly scared of them. That was probably enough interaction with humans for today.

“Geez, where’d you go?” Fiona called, seeing Jeremy at the cove’s entrance. “You were in a fuckin’ hurry.”

“Yeah, well…” Jeremy trailed off. He didn’t have an excuse.

“Oh come on, I’m not actually mad at you.” She playfully punched his arm. “Seriously though, where’d you swim off to?” 

“Uh…” He sighed. “Okay, so, you remember last night when I stayed out really late and Lindsay swam out to come get me? I found a boat with a bunch of humans on it, specifically one that was wearing a weird skull mask, and I...couldn’t bring myself to wreck it? But I still felt really drawn to the one with the mask, so I tried to go back out to find the boat, and I didn’t find the boat but I _did_ find the human with the mask, but I couldn’t bring myself to actually approach it?” Jeremy wrung his hands. “Sorry, sorry, that all sounds really stupid…”

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he stiffened, only to see Lindsay coming in from behind. “Nah, it’s not stupid. We scavenge ships _after_ they’ve been wrecked, not do it immediately after. You’re good, J.”

“‘Sides, humans are weird. Why do you think Lindsay’s so fascinated by another species like her?”

“Hey!” Lindsay swam over to Fiona, tackling her in a joking hug. “Yeah, I’m weird, what about it?” After she let go of Fiona, she turned to face Jeremy. “The skull mask thing sounds familiar, though. I think there was some human gang that got a mercenary who always wears one of those.”

“Really?” Jeremy replied.

She nodded. “Yeah. It started out with just a couple people, and then it grew a bit. I think the mercenary dude was a pretty recent addition, though. Calls themselves the Fakes, or something like that.”

“They’re the most powerful one in the immediate area too, apparently,” Fiona added. “Don’t ask me how...seven? Eight? People can do that, though.”

“...Huh.” Jeremy looked at his hands. He didn’t know how he felt being so strangely drawn to a human that killed other humans, but maybe there was something more. “Well, that’s...thanks for letting me know.”

“Just make sure he doesn’t knife you, y’know?” Fiona added. 

Jeremy’s stomach turned a bit at that, but he brushed it off. “Heh, I’ll try. I’ll probably just...be in my workspace for a while.” With that, he swam off into his workspace. He didn’t really have any ideas as to what he wanted to do, so he just sat in the center pool thinking to himself. At some point, Lindsay swam by to throw a fish at him—_Must’ve missed dinner,_ he thought—and he ate it while he stared at his counter.

At some point, he fell asleep.

———

Try as he might, Jeremy couldn’t get the human out of his mind. Fiona tried to distract him by bringing him to a shipwreck she found a ways out from their cove, but that just made him think even more about the boat, which made him think about the human in return.

At one point, she’d asked if Jeremy knew what the human looked like—if they were a regular visitor to the pier, Lindsay might’ve seen them. Jeremy shook his head and said he didn’t know, that the human wore a mask. She simply shrugged and moved on, but that only made him think about the human more.

Just like the day before, Jeremy swam to the pier. And just like the day before, the same human was there—at least, he figured it was the same human. They had the same jacket, and they were holding the mask in their hand. If Jeremy wasn’t already drawn to the human, he definitely was now.

The human had dirty blond hair, but it looked like they’d dyed it black. They had striking blue eyes, staring out into the ocean waves. Most of their face was obscured by some sort of paint, red on their forehead and a skull shape on the rest of their face—_Whoever this human is, they’re strangely obsessed with skulls,_ Jeremy thought. 

Something compelled Jeremy to approach the human. At this point, who was he to ignore his desires?

_They might get freaked out if they see me._ Jeremy sighed and closed his eyes, his fins and scales retracting into his skin, and his gills closing up. He couldn’t do much about the eyes and the claws, but he hoped the human wouldn’t notice as he poked his head out of the water and swam over to them.

“Oh, Jesus—” The human startled when they saw Jeremy, but they seemed to calm down. “I, uh...I didn’t realize that people swam out here.”

Jeremy tilted his head. “Why’s that weird?”

The human gestured to the boats. “I figured it would be obvious…”

“Oh…” He let out a small laugh. “Well, I know how to avoid boats. I’ve been fine so far.”

They shrugged. “Alright, suit yourself. I’m not paying your hospital bills.” They both stayed silent for a moment before the human spoke up again. “Um, I’m Ryan, by the way.”

“Cool,” he replied, stretching out his hand. “Jeremy.”

“Heh…” Ryan shook his hand, wiping his (now wet) palm on his jeans. “I could’ve sworn I knew someone named Jeremy, at some point. Wonder what happened to him.”

“Yeah, same here. Well, I knew someone named Ryan, not…” He shook his head. “You know what I mean.”

The two of them fell into silence again, before Ryan spoke up. “Do you...swim often out here?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah, I try to anyway. Keeps me in shape, I guess.”

Ryan gave him a sly grin. “Looks like it works. Well, I’m here most nights unless, y’know, I’m sick. Or out on a heist. If you ever wanna swim by and chat, Jeremy.”

Hearing his name being said by Ryan made a chill run up Jeremy’s spine, and he couldn’t understand why. “Yeah! Yeah, I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks, Ryan.”

Now, when he was really out of things to say, Jeremy swam off, trying to make sure his tail stayed underwater. He hoped Lindsay hadn’t gone out to search for him again.

That, and he hoped that he could see Ryan again.

———

_The water was cold, but Jeremy was warm. He wrapped his tail around the other siren’s, and they held each other close. He looked up into the other siren’s eyes, as blue as the water surrounding them. Now that he thought about it, the siren looked a lot like Ryan…_

_Before he could speculate, the siren let out a gasp. When Jeremy looked down, he saw a harpoon hooked through the siren’s tail. He started to panic, but before he could even hold tight to the siren’s arms, they were pulled back by the harpoon._

_Jeremy chased after them, but no matter how fast he swam, he couldn’t catch up. Soon, the siren was pulled out of the water by the harpoon. Jeremy put his head above water, seeing the siren’s blood drip into the water as they were pulled into a large ship, their once lively eyes now dead._

———

Jeremy shot awake, forgetting how to breathe underwater for a moment. He sat up, his tail curling around itself. He leaned forward, putting his hands on the ground of the pool he slept in. “Fuck…” he muttered. _I can’t tell if that was just a dream or a memory…_

He had trouble focusing on his work, and he largely stayed away from Lindsay and Fiona. He still felt too shaken from the nightmare, too scared of what it was trying to tell him. But most of all, he wanted to visit Ryan again, and he couldn’t do that until the evening.

It was hard for him to wait, and Jeremy took to swimming around the cove to focus on something, anything really. Once he saw the sun setting over the ocean, he raced off to the pier.

Even though he showed up at the right time, Jeremy didn’t see Ryan anywhere. He swam to the other docks there, but still no sign of him. He was already nervous from the nightmare, and Ryan’s disappearance wasn’t making things any better.

Jeremy sighed. He changed the top half of his body to look more human—even if he was alone, someone could always come by—and rested his elbows on the dock. He watched as boats in the distance sailed off into the ocean, either uncaring or not knowing about the sirens that resided in this area. He wondered if Ryan believed in sirens, if he’d even heard of them. 

He couldn’t tell how long it’d been, but suddenly, Jeremy heard a rustling in the trees on land. He perked up, relief flooding his veins when he saw Ryan.

That relief was immediately replaced with fear when Jeremy saw him in pain.

“Ryan?!” Jeremy gasped. He could only watch as Ryan slowed down once he reached the pier. He was clutching his shoulder, and there was blood on his hand.

“I-I...I got shot…” he replied. “‘S fine, though. I’ve had worse.”

“Wait, no, stay here. I-I might have something.” Jeremy dove down into the water and frantically swam back to the cove. Maybe it was foolish of him to waste a health potion on a human, but he’d gotten attached to Ryan. There was still something about him that he couldn’t quite put his finger on, but that thing was something he couldn’t let go of.

Once he was in his workspace, Jeremy grabbed one of the health potions he had prepared the other day, and raced back to the pier. He found Ryan sitting down, still clutching his wound.

“Okay, I’m back. Can you...can you lay down?” Jeremy asked. Ryan nodded and did as he asked, taking off his jacket. Jeremy winced at the wound—there was a bullet embedded in Ryan’s shoulder, and although the bleeding seemed to have stopped, there was still blood everywhere. “Hopefully this works on humans…” he mumbled, twisting the bottle open.

Ryan blinked. “Wait, what do you mean?”

“I-I…” Jeremy looked down at his hands and sighed. He closed his eyes, dropping his human appearance. “I’m sorry, Ryan. I-I’m a siren…”

Ryan stayed silent for a moment before letting out a small laugh. “I guess that’s why you’re always in the water,” he replied. “No harm in trying it, though.”

“Okay…” Jeremy took the bullet out of the wound and poured the health potion onto it. Within moments, Ryan’s blood was absorbed back into his veins, and the skin started growing back together. He bit his tongue to keep from crying out as the skin healed, leaving a raw, pink spot where the wound used to be. “Hey, it did work!”

“Damn, that’s—“ Ryan’s reply was cut off by him touching his forehead, grimacing.

“Wait, wait, what’s wrong?”

“Fuck, I...I-I think I’m remembering something...I think I used to be a siren, Jeremy.”

Jeremy’s eyes widened, but he continued to listen.

“I think I got really badly injured and I got tossed onto the shore, a-and I used some potion to make myself human...guessed that erased my memories, though.” Ryan tucked his hand into the tank top he was wearing, and pulled out a necklace—a necklace with a ring on the chain.

———

_“Oh! You have a luck potion...I’ve been trying to find someone with one of those all day.”_

_Jeremy turned around to see a siren behind him--long dirty blond hair, dark blue scales and maroon fins, and quite bigger than he was. The siren was holding a bundle of fish. “You’ll trade, right?”_

_“O-oh, sure.” Jeremy didn’t want to sound desperate, but he wasn’t the best at hunting, and the fish around his area had been depleting. He dug around in his bag, finding the shimmery green luck potion and took it out, holding it out to the siren, offering his other hand for the fish. When they exchanged their goods, their hands brushed against each other’s. “I’m Jeremy, by the way.”_

_“I’m Ryan.” He smiled, and Jeremy could’ve sworn he saw the moon in his smile._

———

_Months had passed since then. Ryan and Jeremy continued to find each other while trading, and they soon started seeing each other outside of trades, the only things they were exchanging being brief hand touches and longing glances, soon turning to tentative hugs and hesitant kisses._

_Jeremy had wanted to start a cove for a while, and he figured it would be enough with Lindsay and her girlfriend, Fiona. Now, though, he was unsure. When he brought up the idea to Ryan, he was ecstatic—he’d never lived in a cove, even as a youngling. He seemed even more ecstatic that it was with Jeremy._

_The cove Lindsay had found was perfect: cozy but large enough so they wouldn’t feel cramped, plenty of small caves to work, store food, and sleep in, and surrounded by traveling schools of fish. For the first time in a while, Jeremy felt like he had a future ahead of him._

———

_The first thing Jeremy felt when he woke up was Ryan’s arms and tail wound around him. He sobbed into the other siren’s shoulder, the slight scratching sensation from Ryan’s claws on his back bringing him back to reality._

_“You had a nightmare, my sunshine,” Ryan whispered. “I could hear you crying.”_

_“Th-that’s what it felt like…” Jeremy replied. “I-I could see you, and there were humans, and...a-and…”_

_“You don’t have to continue if it’s distressing.”_

_“No, I’m fine, it’s...I-I think they were hunting for fish, but they got you instead, and you...you got killed by them—” Jeremy started sobbing harder, and Ryan held him tighter._

_“My sunshine…” Ryan started. “It was only a nightmare, I promise. Tell me, where was I struck in the nightmare?”_

_Wordlessly, Jeremy pointed to the middle of Ryan’s chest. “Okay,” he continued. “Do you want to check the skin and see if I have a wound or a scar there?” Jeremy nodded. He stroked his thumbs over Ryan’s chest—even though there were multiple scars across his chest, they were all cut-like, and none of them were square in the middle like how it was in the nightmare._

_After a long silence, Jeremy finally whispered, “I’m sorry for waking you up…”_

_“It’s okay, darling,” Ryan replied. “I’ll always be here to keep you safe.” He hugged Jeremy again, shifting him so his head was resting on his shoulder._

_Jeremy sighed. “I love you, my moonlight.”_

_“I love you too, my sunshine.”_

———

_“Woah…”_

_Jeremy didn’t go scavenging much himself—he only went out of the cove to trade and gather ingredients for potions. But Fiona had said that she found something incredible, and she’d dragged along the rest of the cove to see._

_She wasn’t lying: the ship was one of the biggest he’d seen, and Jeremy could see glimmers in the chambers of the ship. He trailed behind Fiona, following her into one of the rooms._

_“Oh sweet!” Fiona rushed over to a large chest in the corner of the room. “Humans hide their treasure in these, usually. We should find some good stuff in here.”_

_Jeremy swam over to the chest. “How do we open it?”_

_“Like this, usually.” Fiona slammed her tail against the middle of the chest, and it clicked. She then opened it, apparently slamming it with enough force that it opened without a key._

_Jeremy’s eyes widened when he saw the inside—glittering gems and metals laid inside it, but what drew his attention were probably the two most ordinary things in the chest: two identical, silver rings, laying on top of the treasure. He picked them up, studying them curiously. “Do you know what these are for?”_

_“Well, they’re jewelry,” she replied. “Maybe Lindsay knows?”_

_“Oh, you called?” Lindsay peeked out from the entrance. “Whatcha want?”_

_Jeremy showed her the rings. “What are these for? I mean, I know they’re rings, but…”_

_“Oh! I think those are wedding rings. When humans promise to be with each other forever, they wear those rings as a symbol of that promise.”_

_“Wow…” Jeremy looked out the doorway at Ryan, who was inspecting the opposite side of the ship. He looked back to the rings in his hand. “I have an idea.”_

_Before Lindsay or Fiona could reply, Jeremy went back to the chest. After digging around in it for a bit, he found two necklaces--there were no pendants or charms on it, but he found a hook that connected the thin silver chains. He slipped one ring through each necklace, clasping the hook around each necklace end._

_“Ryan!” He called, swimming out of the room. He met Ryan in the middle of the ship, and he excitedly showed him the necklaces. “I found these, and Lindsay told me what they were...apparently humans wear them when they want to be with each other forever.”_

_“Oh, that’s pretty cool,” he replied, picking up one of the necklaces. “But why...oh.”_

_Jeremy looked up at him, hope and love in his eyes. “Do you…?”_

_Ryan was silent for a moment, his eyes wide. “...Yeah, I do.”_

_Jeremy exclaimed in surprise and rushed to hug him. Ryan returned the hug, his arms wrapping around Jeremy’s back, their tails intertwining. Once they pulled away, Jeremy held out one of the necklaces to Ryan. Ryan took it from him and slipped it over his head, now hanging over his neck. Jeremy did the same with the remaining necklace, moving to kiss Ryan._

_They could both hear Lindsay cheering from the other side of the ship, but neither of them wanted to move._

———

_Ryan had insisted on helping Jeremy gather potion ingredients, and really, who was Jeremy to deny him? They’d been doing well so far—having someone around helped more than he’d realized._

_Jeremy had his back turned when he heard a strange noise from Ryan. When he did turn to face him, he yelled in horror._

** _“Ryan!”_ **

_Their bags had been forgotten about as he rushed over to him. Something had impaled Ryan in his tail, and his blood was turning the water red._

_“Jeremy—” Ryan gasped, tightly clutching to him. “I-I can’t get it out—”_

_“Shit, shit—” They were too far from the cove to call for Lindsay and Fiona. Jeremy didn’t want to try and pull Ryan away out of fear of causing further damage._

_Suddenly, Ryan cried out in pain again. It was a hook, and whoever was on the other side was trying to pull him in. He gripped Jeremy’s back even harder, and Jeremy tightened his embrace around Ryan._

_“Jeremy, I’m sorry…”_

_“Wait, what do you—**Ryan, no!”** Jeremy screamed as Ryan let go of him, and without their combined resistance, he was ripped out of Jeremy’s arms. He immediately tried to chase after Ryan, but he was being pulled in too fast._

_Just as suddenly as he was impaled, Ryan disappeared from the water._

———

“W-wait, you…” Jeremy reached a shaky hand out to Ryan, touching his cheek. “You’re alive?!”

“I thought I was dead for a while, too.” Ryan returned the gesture, and Jeremy could see tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry, my sunshine.”

“You don’t have to apologize, my moonlight.” Jeremy leaned in further, tears running down his cheeks as they kissed for the first time in months. The water was cool, but Jeremy was warmer than he’d been in a long while.

The sound of rustling made Ryan pull away from the kiss, and he looked back in fear. “Shit, it’s the cops.” Without thinking, he jumped into the water, and Jeremy dove in after him. 

He held Ryan close, his tail wrapping around his legs. Jeremy could see the faint outline of where his gills used to be, but they weren’t flaring out like they used to in the water. He knew humans could technically be underwater for a short time, but he didn’t know if that would be enough.

Still, they kept their arms wrapped around each other. There was still some hope that, if he stayed underwater for long enough, he would reform back into a siren.

But Ryan never gasped when he was in the water. He simply stayed there, his cheeks puffed up with air. At some point, Jeremy tried to send him back up for air, but Ryan shook his head, gripping Jeremy’s shoulders. He didn’t understand, but he kept Ryan underwater while he could still hear the sounds of police inspecting the immediate area.

After a few more minutes, Ryan seemed to be struggling, but he resurfaced. Jeremy followed him, putting a hand on his shoulder as he regained his breath.

“Ryan…” Jeremy couldn’t help but start crying again. Ryan rushed to comfort him, hugging him tight as he sobbed. “Th-there has to be a way...to help you change back…”

He sighed, pressing his forehead against Jeremy’s. “Jeremy...I’m really sorry, but I don’t know if I can change back permanently…”

“What?” Jeremy pulled away, desperately searching Ryan’s eyes.

“I miss you, god I do, but...I can’t just leave my friends, they’re...they’re practically family to me.”

It did hurt, but Jeremy didn’t want to show it. “Th-that’s fine...maybe there’s a temporary potion or something?” When Ryan nodded, he responded, “I’m gonna race down and get you a water breathing potion, okay?”

He quickly dove down, swimming as fast as he could back to the cove and his workspace, quickly grabbing a dark indigo potion off the shelves and swimming back, panting. “Here,” Jeremy said, thrusting the bottle into Ryan’s hands. Ryan obliged and, once he downed the potion, gave it back to Jeremy.

Once they were both underwater again, Ryan let the water flow through him. “I will admit though, I miss this feeling…” He held Jeremy’s hand as they swam, much slower now that they had time.

“Oh, I remember this,” he mused, once they swam down into Jeremy’s workspace. “All the mess.”

“Hey,” Jeremy replied, lightly smacking Ryan’s arm. “Come on, there’s gotta be _something_ that could turn you back. Temporarily, at least.” He started pouring through his recipes—maybe he’d written it down one day and forgot, or he was given the recipe by another siren.

For all the searching through the thin stone tablets they did, neither of them could find a way of turning any human—born as one or not—into a siren. Jeremy sank down in the pool, curling around himself. Ryan laid down with him, wrapping his arms around his back.

“I don’t want it to be just us meeting every night or so…” Jeremy mumbled, tracing shapes into Ryan’s skin. “I want to see you more, Ryan. I miss you.”

“I want that too…” Ryan started rubbing his back. “Maybe we skipped over something? Or there’s another way?”

“Oh!” Jeremy shot up again. “I think...I think I saw something in here.” He dug through the tablets until he pulled one out. _Full Human Disguise — unmodified effect: 3 days and 2 nights_ was carved on the front, along with a list of ingredients and instructions for making it. “So, I could drink this and stay with you for a few days!” He hugged Ryan tight.

“You’re sure Lindsay and Fiona would be okay with you leaving for so long, though?”

“They can manage. Besides, I won’t even be with you for the majority of the week…”

“I guess so…” Ryan sighed. “I really am sorry, Jeremy. But I can’t just abandon my family now.”

“No, it’s...I’d rather you be a human and alive over being a siren but dead.” Jeremy sat back up, looking at the ingredients I needed, before sighing in defeat. _God, I’m gonna have to go everywhere for these...but it's worth it for Ryan._ “I think your water breathing potion is gonna run out soon. You should go back…”

“Maybe,” Ryan replied. “Are you still gonna come see me?”

“Of course! Just...just make sure you bring some clothes for me in like, a week or so.”

Ryan gave him a thumbs up, and let Jeremy lead him out of the workspace and back to the pier. “I can’t wait for you to meet them...I hope you’ll get along.”

Jeremy nodded. “I hope so too.” He leaned in and kissed Ryan, wrapping his tail around his legs again. “I’ll do my best to get everything.”

“I believe in you,” he replied. “Help me hoist me back up?”

He nodded, lifting Ryan up and sitting him back up on the pier. “Well…” He sighed, looking into Ryan’s eyes before he dove back down into the ocean.

———

Even when he spent all day searching, it took Jeremy a good few days to gather all the ingredients together.

“Tomorrow’s the day,” Jeremy told Ryan, grinning. “Can we meet up sometime in the morning? I just...I want to take in the day with you.”

“I get that,” Ryan responded. “At least now the wait is gonna be a little better.”

Jeremy let out a laugh. “Yeah...see you tomorrow, my moonlight.”

“You too, my sunshine.” Ryan laid down on the pier and took Jeremy’s face in his hands, leaning down to kiss him. Jeremy returned the gesture before pulling away and diving back into the water.

———

Today was the day. Jeremy never woke up early, but he ended up doing so early enough to say goodbye to Lindsay and Fiona. He grabbed the potion he’d prepared and swam up to the pier.

When he surfaced, he could see Ryan sitting on the edge of the pier, waiting for him. “Guess we were both excited, huh?”

“Yeah…” Jeremy sheepishly looked away. He took the potion out of the water, its pale green color shining in the early sun. He uncorked it and downed the whole thing, wiping his lips.

Suddenly, he grimaced in pain. Ryan panicked and grabbed onto Jeremy’s arms, pulling him up. He watched as his tail split, and his scales and fins receded into his body. He stroked Jeremy’s back as his tail formed into two human legs, holding him close as he morphed.

Jeremy panted as he became fully transformed, his head laying on Ryan’s lap. “Here,” Ryan said, starting to dress him: he pulled on some underwear—“It’s clean, don’t worry,” he said—followed by pants, a shirt, and a pair of shoes. “They’ll keep your feet from getting cut up by rocks ‘n shit.”

“Land’s dangerous,” Jeremy mumbled. Ryan giggled as he stood up, holding Jeremy’s hands as he helped him up.

“You’re ready to go?”

“Yeah...I think I might need some help walking, though.”

“Don’t worry, my sunshine.” Ryan kept an arm linked with Jeremy’s. “I’ll keep you steady.”

Jeremy nodded, taking his hand in Ryan’s and squeezing it. “Thanks, my moonlight.” He stood up on his tip toes to kiss Ryan, before they started off.

While they walked, Jeremy realized that this was going to be his life for the time being: spending time between water and land, split between his life as a siren and his life as a human. He sighed and rubbed at the spots where his gills would be, which were now faint scars on his neck.

They could figure something out later. For now, him and Ryan were happy. And that was enough.


End file.
